You can see the vision here: LaMarcus Aldridge as the top-20 overall centerpiece, with Nicolas Batum and Wesley Matthews working the wing and Damian Lillard orchestrating. In the big picture, it's unclear if the talent mix and the developmental timing will work well enough to keep Aldridge happy over the last three years of his deal. Batum or Lillard will have to make a leap, and fast, for that to happen, since Matthews — a solid player — appears to have hit something of a developmental ceiling.

Every player beyond those four is either totally unproven as an NBA commodity, or proven as a bad one.

• Candace Buckner, new Blazers beat writer for the Columbian, on Nolan Smith:

Either way, whether it's playing off Lillard or setting up Matthews, Smith said he's comfortable in any role.

"It allows me to just be aggressive, but at the same time, now we'll be able to have two point guards out on the court, two guards who can push the ball," Smith said. "Me and Ronnie (Price) out there at the same time, whoever gets it, runs the offense and the other can be aggressive."

“Defensively, he has to be a lot more active, he's got to vocalize what's going on. If he sees it, it has to say it,” Hughes said. “So for instance, if his man sets a pick, he has to tell the guard the pick and the location of the pick and that's been hard for him. He's not a vocal kid that way.”

Compared to college basketball, the experience has been very different so far. For starters, it’s a completely different level of basketball and talent. From a physical perspective, you’re getting hit by bigger bodies and putting in longer hours in the NBA than in college. The similarity is that being a college freshman out of high school is like coming in as an NBA rookie – you have a lot to learn. By the second year, you just understand more.

I haven’t had much time to check out the city of Portland. I’ve been downtown a couple times and have seen a few of the suburbs. I did get a chance to go to Cannon Beach, which is about 80 miles from Portland, the weekend before training camp started. It’s on the coast, and it’s a very beautiful site.

Claver sees himself as a small forward but not exclusively so. It's an accurate self-assessment. He's blessed with a smooth stroke and he is clearly most comfortable facing the hoop and operating on the perimeter. He understands the logic behind using a shooter as a stretch four and is open to the idea. He doesn't hesitate when asked to name his biggest asset.

"Versatility," he said. "I'm not a specialist in anything but I can do a lot of things. I think that's important. That's one thing that helps a star like LaMarcus [Aldridge], or Damian [Lillard] or Wesley Matthews. They are going to get a lot of shots in the game. They need some people who support them."

Lee Jenkins: Fiction. It's much harder for big men to assert themselves early than guards. Davis is with a young team, in a brutal conference, and he spent only one year in college. I'll go with Portland point guard Damian Lillard because he is older, he'll have the ball in his hands and he's the rare rookie with a lot of experience running the pick-and-roll. The Blazers will bounce back this season and Lillard stands to receive much of the credit.